Bought some smitty xrc tj tube flares for the rear because I am rubbing when I take corners. It seems the BDS springs seem to locate the 8.8 back a bit further than my Skyjacker rear springs and the Dana 35. Has anyone mounted the tj rears all the way back or should I just comp cut the rear and sell the tube flares?

The TJ flares will definitely open up the wheel well a lot and it's a mod I highly recommend. I remember on one of my excursions out into the woods I looked at some pics of my jeep and noticed the rear wheel was pretty far back in the wheel well. I found out later I sheared the spring pins.

Dude, something is misaligned. Are you sure you got the center bolts in the hole on the spring plates and not the open slot in front of the proper alignment hole? That is the "easiest to fix" reason I can think of that it would be sitting that far back.

Your axle is significantly farther back than mine sits with my BDS springs and 8.8. Mine lines up with the opening as it should:

I threw the inner liners away completely. If you cut your opening the size of the flares you'll have big gaps in the liner allowing even more mud and **** to collect in there to promote rust. I'd just rip them out and spray undercoating under there or bed liner or whatever, that was my plan although I still haven't done it.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by George Orwell

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As what the others have said, although I'm not familier with the Tube fenders though I would assume they'd be the same, installing TJ flares will of course open the wheel well up quite a bit, but you cut a big portion of the rear of the fender lip out. When I did mine, I was able to cut just a little off of the front of the wheel well. As I went up and around towards the back, the cut got gradualy larger which led me to cut about 2 or 3 times more off the back then I did off the front. In your case, that seems to be a benificial outcome.

As far as the liners... I thew them out as well and sprayed a rubberized undercoating you can buy from O'rielys or Autozone. You might get the occasional loud rock hitting the wheel wheel... not a big deal.

I had a 5" cutting disc that cut through the metal and liner like butter. Any liner that was still sticking out I took a utility knife and trimmed. I kept mine because it was still in good shape and pliable. One of my buddies threw his out because they were cracked and brittle. I would check the condition of them and then decide or just throw them out completely and coat the underside.

On a side note it does look like the springs are on backwards. I believe the full military wrapped end goes on the frame side and the 1/4 wrapped end goes on the shackle side. At least that's how my 3.5" Black Diamonds are. I ran mine backwards on the front (though it didn't matter) for years but I swapped them around when I was putting lower gears in.

I had a 5" cutting disc that cut through the metal and liner like butter. Any liner that was still sticking out I took a utility knife and trimmed. I kept mine because it was still in good shape and pliable. One of my buddies threw his out because they were cracked and brittle. I would check the condition of them and then decide or just throw them out completely and coat the underside.

On a side note it does look like the springs are on backwards. I believe the full military wrapped end goes on the frame side and the 1/4 wrapped end goes on the shackle side. At least that's how my 3.5" Black Diamonds are. I ran mine backwards on the front (though it didn't matter) for years but I swapped them around when I was putting lower gears in.

They're full mil wrap on both ends of the BDS spring. My RE springs on the front have the full wrap on the frame and the half wrap at the shackle.

If I didn't already have my driveshaft measured for this orientation, I'd flip them around today. I'm just going to cut a lot and see where it gets me. I don't think it hurts any to have the axle 1" back does it?

If I didn't already have my driveshaft measured for this orientation, I'd flip them around today. I'm just going to cut a lot and see where it gets me. I don't think it hurts any to have the axle 1" back does it?